A prospect walks into your dealership and leaves without buying a car.  The Manager asks the salesperson why and they respond that the prospect couldn’t afford the car they wanted or he didn’t have the car the prospect wanted.  A third party conducts a follow-up interview with the prospect and a completely different version of the interaction is revealed.

Sound familiar?  The question now becomes:  What should your dealership do with those third party follow-ups to improve sales?

I’ve studied this situation throughout dealerships across the country.  Here’s what I found.  The biggest difference between stores that increased sales and those that didn’t is what they did with the third party follow-up information.

I found that unsuccessful dealerships had the tendency to ask their staff for an explanation of the prospect’s survey and feedback before they called the prospect back.  Salespeople and Managers tend to get extremely defensive when they learn that a prospect does not have the same perception of their visit as they do.  I’ve personally witnessed them call the prospect “crazy”.  They will make excuses…like, the prospect couldn’t afford the monthly payment.  If you go to your staff first, you’ve essentially tainted the effectiveness of the third party follow-up and, in all likelihood, you will not be able to effectively sell to that opportunity.

On the contrary, successful dealerships approach the third party follow-up as an entirely new opportunity.   Since the prospect won’t come back to look at the very car they didn’t buy yesterday, the successful dealership has a plan to re-car the prospect.  They use the information presented in the third party follow-up to get a better understanding of the prospect’s needs and determine a way to meet those needs by recommending other vehicles on the lot.  They get excited about showing the prospect the vehicle that would fit their needs; stating that they “just got it” or that the staff last night was unaware of it.   Additionally, if needed, they apologize for any poor service the prospect perceived to be unacceptable, offer a test drive the prospect perceived they were not offered, and express the desire to present an offer the prospect perceived they didn’t previously receive.  Again, all of the dealership’s actions are based on the prospect’s perceptions that were ascertained by the third party follow-up.

At the end of the day, ask yourself one question:  Who do we sell to…Our staff? Or our customers and prospects?

Why get your staff’s opinion of what happened when you have your prospect’s opinion of what happened?  The very minute you get an “update” from your staff… the very minute you go to the salesman or the manager to “better understand what happened” is the very minute you taint your view of the prospect.   To be successful, you must use the information from a third party follow-up without consulting your staff, as they will affect your perspective and strategy to “re-car” the prospect.

During the first opportunity your dealership had with this prospect your staff probably reacted to “what are you looking for” and allowed the prospect to control what vehicle you showed them.    But now, thanks to the third party follow-up, you are in control.  You know the prospect’s personal vehicle needs and their down payment and monthly payment budgets.  You know your inventory.  This time you can control which vehicle you show the prospect and you know what your profit margins will be when they purchase the vehicle.

Following a third party follow-up, make sure you implement two processes:

(1)  Have a different manager and salesperson tackle this opportunity

(2)  Have a “re-car” plan - Work the numbers on two separate vehicles that you know will fit the prospect’s personal and financial needs and will generate you sufficient gross profits before you call them back.

DEALERUPS HELPS AUTO DEALERS BETTER TARGET CUSTOMERS WITH POLK LEAD SCORING INTEGRATION AND DATABASE ENHANCEMENT SERVICES

Collaboration and Integration Provides Auto Dealers with Competitive Advantage and Potential for Increased Sales Revenues

LEVITTOWN, New York – (February 8, 2010) - Parayil & Mann Dealer Services Inc. (PMDS), a leading retail automotive consulting and technology provider, today announced the integration of R. L. Polk & Co.’s Lead Scoring into its DealerUps Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. DealerUps has also added Polk’s data hygiene and appending services to its system, which allow DealerUps’ customers to have a more accurate customer database with regard to address, phone and email. Combined, these services are aimed at helping auto dealers better target customers and boost sales.

The integration with Polk provides auto dealers using the DealerUps system an additional tool to identify car buyers who are most likely to purchase a new or used vehicle. Internet leads are captured from within the DealerUps Internet Lead Management tool (Mailroom), which is fully integrated within its core CRM application. DealerUps then relies on Polk’s industry leading automotive intelligence and sophisticated analytics to help dealerships optimize their Internet lead mix by determining the likelihood and timeliness of a lead converting to a sale.

“Polk’s Lead Scoring solution combines predictive modeling and analytic capabilities with rich automotive intelligence to impartially determine which Internet leads are likely to result in a vehicle sale,” said Patrick Goodfellow, product director at DealerUps.

“With this integration, our auto dealer clients can easily qualify their Internet customers’ interest and readiness to buy a vehicle, providing them with a distinct advantage over their competition and increased sales revenues,” Goodfellow added.

“As a part of the scoring process, Polk Lead Scoring enhances Internet leads with a wide variety of proprietary automotive information and advanced demographic and lifestyle information before appending a score to the lead,” said Andrew Price, vice president, Polk Automotive Retail Solutions. “This ensures the most sophisticated and robust lead scoring available in the industry and also includes reporting and analytical capabilities and emphasizes our ability to evaluate lead performance at the lead source, make and dealer level,” he continued.

The agreement with Polk additionally provides DealerUps with a centralized source of services which will enhance the value of any auto dealer’s database by standardizing address information, eliminating undeliverable addresses, locating valid contact information such as phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and appending key market data. This enhanced database enables the auto dealer to build new or increased revenue opportunities and provides the resources to reach and market to customers and prospects more effectively.

“We are very excited to be working with Polk to provide our dealers with these services to help them better target customers, boost sales and improve the bottom line,” commented Stan Thomas, CEO DealerUps.

-30-

About R. L. Polk & Co.
R. L. Polk & Co. is the premier provider of automotive information and marketing solutions. Polk collects and interprets global data, and provides extensive automotive business expertise to help customers understand their market position, identify trends, build brand loyalty, conquest new business and gain a competitive advantage. Polk helps automotive manufacturers and dealers, automotive aftermarket companies, finance and insurance companies, advertising agencies, media companies, consulting organizations, government agencies and market research firms make good business decisions. A privately held global firm, Polk is based in Southfield, Mich. with operations in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. For more information, please visit www.polk.com.

About Parayil & Mann Dealer Services, Inc.
Parayil & Mann Dealer Services, Inc. (PMDS) is a privately held automotive consulting and technology company specializing in the optimization of dealership processes and customer relationship management (CRM). PMDS is lead by industry experts with more than four decades of extensive automotive retail experience. The company has headquarters in Long Island, New York and regional offices in Dallas, Texas. For more information visit www.dealerups.com.

It’s becoming increasingly more important to monitor your employees and how they interact on the internet. In a transparent world it’s easy to connect what a person says to where they work, that can be a problem if one of your employees lacks integrity, and is posting defamatory, pornographic, proprietary or libelous material about the dealership, employees, customers or even the competitors. In fact, they don’t even have to mention anything that relates to the car business but through association can have an impact on the public opinion about your dealership.

After careful research (and borrowing) I put together the following policy to get you started creating your own social media policy. Keep in mind that I am not a lawyer and the following policy should only be used as guide and is not a stand-in for legal advice. I encourage you to download it, take a look at it and draft your own policy.

Social media can be a powerful supplement to any marketing campaign but it can be a double edge sword, use it wisely and make sure that you know what your employees are saying, it could be the different between positive word of mouth and negative word of mouth. As we all know, negative word of mouth can spread like wildfire and before you know it , it can engulf the whole dealership. Be vigilant.

The following policy is saved in an RTF format, it can be opened with most word-processing programs on both PC’s and Macs.

Automotive Social Media Policy

David Johnson is the Digital Marketing Director at PersuasiveConcepts.com and Next Generation Dealer Services.

There are over 800 questions proposed so far and still over a day to put in questions for the Monday airing.

Brian Pasch is the CEO of Pasch Consulting Group, an industry leader in digital marketing and Search Engine Optimization for the automotive industry.  Pasch will be among five keynote speakers at the Boot Camp and is also one of the instructors at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.  The opening ceremonies for the Boot Camp are scheduled for Thursday evening February 11th with Keynote Speaker Jared Hamilton, founder of DrivingSales.com.

The first class instructed by Pasch “How To Create Content To Achieve Your Online Marketing Goals” will teach dealer professionals how to create content that the search engines will respect.  Pasch will demonstrate how to write search engine friendly content that attracts new traffic and meets car dealer’s keyword search goals.

Next, Pasch will deliver a seminar covering his top picks for the Best Digital Marketing Strategies of 2010.  There are hundreds of opportunities online for auto dealers looking to capture their fair share of the market, but only a select few will offer the best ROI.

Pasch will show participants how to leverage these strategies to immediately increase the visibility of any car dealership.   He will also show the latest winning digital marketing strategies that have yet to be publically discussed on Brian’s blogs.

A complete description of these classes can be found online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/instructors/

The full roster of speakers for the boot camp includes JD Rucker, a leading automotive social media expert and CMO of TK Carsites, Paul Rushing, respected leaders in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, Eric Mayhew, Manager of Advertising Products at Dealer.com, and Tim Jennings, an 18 year veteran in the automotive industry who will be leading classes on video optimization online for increased traffic and sales.

The full roster of speakers and class descriptions can be found online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/instructors/

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp offers attendees hands-on classes which will deliver the abilities dealers need to understand, manage and catapult their online marketing strategy to the next level.  Every participant will be required to bring a laptop since the boot camp will feature hands on skills training.  This will enable participants to take back to their dealership and implement what they learned in class.

Registration is limited to 75 seats per class and is filling up quickly.  Automotive Principals, General Managers, General Sales Managers or Internet Sales Managers are encouraged to register online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/paypal

The preliminary analysis, however, definitely shows that Toyota’s market day’s supply began decreasing in November and December, and that rate has really picked up in January.  Unfortunately the decrease in day’s supply, however, does not represent faster retail movement, but rather vehicles being removed from the market for sale.  I’ll have more detail on this matter soon.

I think it’s worthy to note that Toyota’s recent problems support the general premise that dealers should diversify their inventory.  This strategy is analogist to diversification in an investment portfolio.  No matter how solid a given brand or investment vehicle may be, it is unwise to have too much concentration in any single sector.

Toyota’s recall and reputation crisis seem to be getting worse day by day. This was a company so obsessed with making cars of unmatchable quality and reliability that they helped set a higher standard for the industry, compelling their competitors to follow. Relentless waste and defect reduction through process control and continuous improvement is their strength and sweet spot, and their comfort zone. This is the machine that helped change the world.

Now Toyota’s new challenge is one well outside their comfort zone. The relentless quality machine is now…well…human. And while they still need their best engineers focused on finding the root causes and developing and rolling out fixes, Toyota is challenged to regain the trust of a fearful owner body through all levels of communication – people communicating with people, not just a quality machine conducting a safety recall.

Humans have many things in common with each other (and not with machines):
• They are not perfect and make mistakes
• They can recognize their mistakes
• They can be humble and apologize
• They can correct their mistakes
• They can forgive each other
• They can learn from their mistakes and grow stronger

Japan is known to have a culture of external shame and the U.S. a culture of internal guilt. All people can forgive, and in the U.S. in particular we have lots of comeback stories of fallen heroes who admit their mistakes and get back on track. For this process to start, people need to hear from the Toyota family at the top of the house. Much like Bill Ford was front and center at the Firestone/Explorer crisis, Toyota President and founding family member Akio Toyoda needs to be out front on this one as well. This is a global issue so the responsibility rolls up to the top.

Ultimately, brands and reputations are based on trust. Toyota built the highest measure of trust in its quality reputation – customer confidence in what they felt were vehicles that could not fail. Customer trust and confidence shifted quickly to fear of driving of driving their Toyotas. They need to know the man at the top is behind them and will relentlessly get to the root cause of every problem and fix it, and that he takes responsibility for their driving safety.

The reputation will take considerable time to rebuild. When Toyota is not out ahead of this one and the crisis escalates at internet speed, others take control of the brand. When Toyota silence is filled with the voices of Ray LaHood, Steve Wozniak, Diane Sawyer, Jon Stewart, and David Letterman, the brand is being reshaped at internet speed – while other OEMs offer Toyota conquest incentives. Tiger Woods can empathize – he did not get out of ahead of his crisis and it reached unprecedented proportions. When he comes back, it will require a new level of humility and remorse to begin to repair the reputation damage.

So it is time for Toyota’s President to:
• Step up – Provide a sincere and complete apology, address the issues head on continue the efforts to get all your customers’ vehicles fixed.
• Step out – Be visible regularly – this won’t be solved by a single press conference. Use digital and social media to proactively and sincerely communicate with concerned customers and other constituents.
• Step forward – You have not found all the issues, root causes and fixes yet – electronic interference issues will be a great engineering challenge. Get out ahead and use Toyota’s engineering and quality strengths to become the best at early detection and correction of dynamic issues in your rolling owner fleet. Get ahead of the train and communicate proactively because it is way ahead of you right now.
• Step into the future – Innovate in ways that will prevent this happening in the future with things like satellite based diagnostics that will tell you which vehicles at most at risk for a failure and should be brought into the dealership right away. Just think of the savings of money and lives in finding and fixing these issues months ahead of time.

For advice on communicating to customers – why not talk to your dealers? They have been ahead of the game because customers have been coming to them for months. They are admirably representing Toyota as they talk to the news network interviews on the crisis. Your best customer satisfaction dealers know how to address these issues with customers with empathy and action – they always have and always will, with extended service hours and whatever it takes. They are on the front lines of this crisis, talking to panicked Toyota customers and fixing cars. Give them all the support they need, because they are the hospitals for sick vehicles and frightened customers and their emergency rooms are full.

I know there are some great stories out there of Toyota dealers stepping up to handle this crisis. Please share in response to this posting some of the best practices you have seen out there so other Toyota dealers can see them.

It will be a long journey to restore the reputation, but a journey that can only happen step by step – with human feet.

The special finance customer is in an uncomfortable spot. This uncomfortableness can quickly lead to stress and anxiety as it surrounds one’s ability to find financing for an automobile. Imagine a young family with one car and two small children, with both parents working outside the home, who run into a bit of bad luck and find themselves needing to replace their car. Knowing their credit is severely lacking they first try their credit union only to be turned down. Hitting a dead end, because they know nothing about subprime lending, their stress levels begin to rise and they start to feel as if they have nowhere to turn.

This type of scenario happens all the time, causing the couple to Google terms like bad credit auto loan, only to find, you guessed it, a third party lead site. From there we all know what happens, but I’d like to ask you, what would happen if they already knew, ahead of time, about your dealerships special finance program, not only that but they already had a level of trust in your capabilities and knew the finance manager, the general sales manager and a few sales people by name? How would the above scenario have gone down differently?

I’m telling you right now that the ONLY reason people go to third party lead sites is because they have no other place to turn except a cold, uncaring search engine, that spit out websites that spend the most money on SEO. Things don’t have to go down this way. You can make your local market more aware of your special finance department by building solid, trust inducing, win-win relationships BEFORE the need for your services ever arise. How? Through the use of social media.

Putting A Strategy In Place

Authority is influence. Having influence is authority. The two go hand in hand and I’m going to show you how to be the authority in your market, through the use of social networking. As Mitch Joel said in his book, Six Pixels of Separation, “People will buy from you and want to stay connected to you, only if they are getting real interaction from a real human being.” So let’s give them interaction!

Step 1: Create a blog. Don’t let that scare you, setting up a blog is much easier that you might think. You can get hosted, or a self-hosted blog, I recommend self-hosted. With a quick search on YouTube I found THIS VIDEO on how to set one up.

Now that you have a blog, let’s start blogging. Keeping in mind that you want to create authority, start creating posts about finances, credit repair, auto financing, banking, and the issues of high interest rates. The idea here is to showcase your knowledge in order to paint yourself as the authority. Don’t use this blog to pitch yourself, just give good information. Create a good about me page that showcases who you are, what you do and what dealership you work for but don’t use your blog as a thinly disguised advertisement. The idea here is to give.

Step 2: Start a Facebook fan page. Odds are you already have one but how are you using it? If you’re using it just to talk about yourself, you have it all wrong. Use it as a place to post links back to your blog, and other articles & blog post that relate. Do a contest or two a month in order to get your fans to engage. Maybe you can give away percentage off coupons, Flip Cams, or dinners for two.

Look for groups in your local market and become part of them. Engage people there as well. Remember to give, showcase your authority, become a person of influence through your actions. Remember, don’t pitch!

Step 3: Create a Twitter account and start tweeting. Twitter is a great way to target you local market, it’s the easiest to build and if done right you can funnel those people to your blog, your Facebook page and to any videos you might want to make. Watch THE VIDEO I created for you on locating people in your local market.

Again, don’t use Twitter to pitch, instead use it to inform and build relationships. Engage tweeters by asking questions and answering theirs. Direct people to your blog and your fan page, keeping in mind that the majority of what you tweet about should have nothing to do with you, it should all be about them.

Going Advanced

I highly recommend video, although it’s not mandatory. It’s very easy to create and to distribute . Video is a great way to build authority and we are already accustomed to sharing them with people we know. Videos, if using the correct titles and descriptions, index in the SERPS (search engine ranking pages) very well.

You could create a series of videos on the topic of credit repair, getting financed with bad credit, or any number of topics that relate to finances in general. Just like in the strategy above the idea is to create authority, to show that you are knowledgeable in your field.

Build authority and they will come. By giving people a place to turn, in times of need, then actually fulfilling that need, you set yourself up to having a lifelong customer that creates other customers. Don’t overlook the idea of building social influence on social networks, it’s a source of endless bounty if you keep their wants and needs in mind. In fact, I feel that it’s bad business NOT to showcase your authority. Get the team together, today, and put a strategy together, today, so that you can stake your claim in the wonderful world of social media.

1. Target your audience
Duh, I’m sure you say… but keep in mind that Facebook users divulge a lot of information about themselves here in their profiles, more and better information than trying to use demographics or rating from traditional advertising means.
Facebook allows you to groups you want to reach, you can target users based on profile info: age, gender, location, college, relationship status and interests. This is FAR more accurate data than demographics; in fact you could call this the U.S. real time census.
More importantly you can use Facebook for behavioral targeting. You can choose to target users that are fans of your company or avoid your fans if you are looking to broaden you prospect base. Facebook also allows you to target customers based on key words that are mentioned in their profile or status updates.
Keep in mind behavioral targeting doesn’t just mean users who see you ad and ones who don’t more often behavioral targeting is best suited for targeting content. Changing content to fit the users’ behavior is incredibly powerful and will mean a big boost in clicks and conversions.

2. Test, test, test … Strategically, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Facebook ads are auctioned as they are on Google Ad Words, however you can pay by the impression or by the click. Most advertisers choose by the click and I am a fan of this method as well, impressions are almost impossible to track ROI or activity from.

Testing ads in Facebook as with all online marketing is twofold:
 Testing for click volume
 Testing for conversion rate

The later of these to is obviously the most important. While clicks are good and there are those that will argue that with clicks and impression you are branding you business, I will argue that if the respondent was interested and would remember your brand they would have converted. People are no longer on the internet to find things they are on the internet to do things (Platforms over Pages). Testing conversion is about the customer behavior and experience when they get to the landing experience your click directed them to. It is in the landing experience where you can test strategically.

By combining Facebook’s behavioral targeting for the click with a landing experience behavioral targeting can gain large boosts in your Facebook advertising conversion rate.

3. Track everything
Facebook allow you to track the number of clicks and times your ad is shown, but it doesn’t track Post-Click. This is a huge drawback to any online marketing. Using a landing experience platform in combination with Google Analytics you can quickly and easily build, test and track your traffic from Facebook and other online marketing mediums.

4.  Don’t miss the message

Message miss match is the number one cause of page abandonment and low conversion. If you plan on advertising on Facebook then dumping these respondents on to your main random access website…do yourself a favor and save the money.  This is the most important tip I can give to any marketer advertising on Facebook or anywhere else on the web. Your message must match what got the click in the first place.

On face book your ad space is limited, typically a short head line 135 charters or fewer and a small image. You are competing with status updates friends photos ect. so it is tough to get noticed. Usually three ads from different advertisers run next to each other so this increases the challenge, “If you put up a traditional ad you’re just going to get pushed aside”. Facebook is social so your ad should be social, be irreverent and don’t write in traditional copyspeak, be Transparent, Authentic and Genuine (TAG) in your ad “Spring has sprung… time for that convertible!”

Because you have so little space to capture the respondents’ attention it is so imperative that your landing experience engage the customer and match your message. This is a great place for a conversion path: “Spring is in the air and can ABC motors help you drive and breath the fresh air? With our spring convertible collection of coarse….”

Choice 1. See our lineup of great new convertibles
Choice 2. Today’s convertible special
Choice 3. See our lineup of great pre-owned convertible deals

Content isn’t King, the respondent is and the King wants choice so give your respondent kings choices you’ll be rewarded for it with the conversion.

Hope this helps,

Larry Bruce (@pcmguy)
www.pcmguy.com

• Manufacturer Leads
• Website Direct Leads
• Third Party Leads

The roundtable is being sponsored by Dealix and will include:

• David Kain, President of Kain Automotive, will focus on leads from OEM sites.
• Brian Pasch, Owner of Pasch Consulting, will argue the merits of leads from the Dealer Sites
• Anna Zornosa, General Manager of Dealix - will advocate the contribution of leads from independent sites.

In preparation for this panel discussion, I have created a survey that I would appreciate members of the Driving Sales Community to take.    If you know the close rates and budgets set aside for lead costs, please complete the survey below:

The link to the survey is here:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/managing-your-lead-mix

In an efficient market, buyers and sellers have relatively equal knowledge of choices and alternatives. With the Internet providing shoppers the ability to see every vehicle in the market and how they are priced, why should we believe that we will get lucky as often as we used to? Do we believe that better negotiating tactics will overcome customer’s knowledge of identical choices and alternatives? Do we think that blowing up more balloons in the showroom or putting a bigger gorilla on the roof will make the difference? Simply stated, the business has changed, average front end grosses will not be what they once were, and we need to change the way we are operating to remain profitable.

The need for such a profound change is very difficult for many dealers to embrace. Instead, many continue to price vehicles in the hopes of capturing the large grosses of the past. In reality, this is the worst possible strategy to achieve profitability in today’s used car marketplace.

Once and only once a dealer comes to terms with the reality that the old front end grosses of the past will not return, the only remaining question to be answered is how the lost profits will be replaced. The obvious answer is that they can only be made up with additional volume. Achieving additional volume, however, requires a dealer to stop pricing every vehicle with a large mark-up in an attempt to recapture the large gross profits of the past. To do so is like shutting the oxygen off to a patient that is in desperate need. The correct approach is the Velocity method of management which advocates opening the valves wide by pricing vehicles at or close to their true transaction point. Under these conditions, traffic and sales immediately increase and used car operations experience a vitality and vibrancy that had been long lost.

In order to successfully implement the Velocity strategy, dealers must have new technology and information to make better decisions. Specifically, they must know which cars can be priced high and reduced slowly if necessary, and which vehicles need to be priced low and reduced quickly if necessary. To know this difference, is a “must have” for a Velocity dealer.

The technique that Velocity dealers use has two steps. First, the Velocity dealer takes special care to know the individual physical qualities of each and every vehicle. Some vehicles are special, some ordinary, some replaceable, and some simply one-of-a-kind. Such qualities certainly matter in making the pricing decision. After the physical qualities of the vehicles are assessed, the second remaining consideration for knowing which vehicles should be priced high and which should be priced low is an understanding of their current supply and demand. Vehicles with high demand and short supply can be priced with thousands of dollars of mark-up while vehicles with high supply and low demand need to be priced aggressively for a quick sale and a possible finance opportunity.

Equally important, the Velocity dealer must change the negotiating culture of their showroom to support their new pricing strategy. The sales people need to recognize that an approach more oriented to volume than extraordinarily high average gross is needed. Therefore, Sales Managers must fully comprehend that the dealership’s vehicles are priced to sell, not to negotiate. To this extent, documentation replaces negotiation in the showroom experience. Information is powerful and the Velocity dealer can use their superior knowledge about each and every competitive vehicle in their market to demonstrate to the customer that the offered price is truly a great value.

The move from a traditional used car model to a “Velocity” model is a journey. Habits and practices that were successful in the past need to be replaced with new ones. The good news is that today, many hundreds of dealers are making the Velocity journey. These dealers have found value in networking with one another. Their shared experiences, challenges and successes help them navigate and serve to reinforce the rewards. The growing community of Velocity dealers is enjoying the rich rewards that are still available to those that are willing to adopt the necessary new strategies and tactics.

Salt Lake City, UT - February 3^rd, 2010 - DrivingSales (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry’s leading social media platform and largest online community, today announced that its founder and CEO Jared Hamilton will be conducting four workshops on Advanced Social Media Marketing for Dealers as part of the NADA Workshop series held at the 2010 NADA Convention and Expo in Orlando, Florida.

These workshops will provide an illuminating overview of social media in the context of the overall advertising market in which dealers operate, as well as specific social media strategies and best practices to help dealers leverage social media’s significant marketing opportunities.

Hamilton, a third-generation auto dealer, is known for leading energetic and interactive workshops, panels and seminars on social media and online marketing for dealer groups, dealerships and OEMs across the country, as well as at the industry’s key marketing conferences, including J.D. Power & Associates Roundtables, Digital Dealer Conferences, and DrivingSales’ own annual Executive Summit.

“My number one goal is to take the mystery out of social media marketing for automotive retailers and to provide them with actionable tactics that will enable them to use social media to grow in 2010 and beyond,” said Jared Hamilton, CEO and Founder of DrivingSales.com.  “Each dealer who attends the advanced social media marketing workshop should leave not only with a social media plan for his/her dealership, but also excited and energized about the possibilities that lie ahead.”

The Advanced Social Media Marketing NADA workshops will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida at the times and dates listed below.  Only registered NADA dealer attendees may attend.

Friday, February 12 - 3:15 p.m. Room 308 C
Saturday, February 13 - 8:30 a.m. Room 203 A-C
Sunday, February 14 - 11:00 a.m. Room 308 C
Sunday, February 14  - 3:30 p.m. Room 309 A&B

For more information about the Advanced Social Media Marketing NADA Workshops, go to http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/jaredh/2010/02/03/nada-2010-workshops/ or http://expo.nada.org/

About DrivingSales

DrivingSales.com (www.drivingsales.com) is the largest and premiere online community for the auto industry, where its thousands of members, including dealers, dealership managers, manufacturers, industry experts and vendors, collaborate and share best practices in a 20-group style setting. At DrivingSales, members create profiles and communicate with each other; build their networks and knowledgebase; share and rate proven strategies, and have access to relevant content contributed by fellow industry experts, including blogs, videos, interviews, a social news feed and more. Dealer members rate and review vendor products - sharing their experiences with the DrivingSales community - while vendors have the opportunity to provide feedback on reviews and showcase their products and services. DrivingSales was created and built from the ground up in 2003 by Jared Hamilton, a third generation auto dealer, as a private automotive business community to network his NADA Dealer Candidate Academy class.  The site opened nationally in 2008 and is the auto industry’s leading social media custom platform.  DrivingSales was named one of ten social media gambits for 2009 by Automotive News and one of the Top 10 Companies to Watch by Auto Success Magazine.

Media Contact:

Melanie Webber (Melanie@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 949.307.1723

2009 Snapshot:
* 40% of Total Sales Generated Directly Thru Internet
* Jumped from #3/#4 Positions in Major Metro Market - to #1/#2 Spots
*Slashed PPC Spend $60,000/Year; Cut Nearly 100% of Traditional Advertising, Including ALL Newspaper, Used Car Liners and Radio
*58% of all Internet-Generated Calls Coming DIRECTLY thru SEO and Review Sites/Directories (540 Calls a Month)
* Leads Generated via SEO & Review Sites Cost $1.58, vs. $28 for Third-Party Leads

Background:
At Dick Hannah Honda in the metro Portland market, an intense focus on advanced SEO combined with Online Reputation Management (and, now, set for 2010, a new social media strategy), form the backbone of our marketing game plan. My goal here is not only to touch on why our dealership decided to get aggressive at the search engines and customer review sites, but how we implemented these campaigns, and the fully-tracked, seriously eye-opening results we’re seeing.

I’ve been in the car business 30 years, and a passionate student of the Internet for almost 15. I’m always seeking smart, efficient new ways to drive more business. But it’s been in these last three years, where we’ve taken ‘Search’ to a whole new level, that’s been the hands-down revolution, the ‘aha’ moment, for our dealership.

1) The Impact of Advanced SEO:
There’s usually a serious lag in what consumers are actually doing (and today that means online), and how we dealers are trying to reach them. Back in 2007, I realized search engine adoption had reached a massive tipping-point. I digested the data: 9 in 10 car shoppers were using search engines, and they’d quickly become the #1 way consumers selected dealers. And while I’d been spending $6,000 a month on PPC ads, I grasped that consumers trust the organic results far more. I was determined to tackle SEO to drive far more - far cheaper - ‘first-party’ leads directly to my dealership.

SEO Results:
Before the campaign our dealership appeared on the crucial first-page results only 18% of the time. But after our advanced SEO ‘went live’ in 2007, we’ve consistently achieved 72%-plus levels. I ferociously track exactly where our call and web traffic originates (using 3^rd-party tracking companies, deploying 800#s at the search engines, etc.), and we’ve amassed three years of powerful evidence on the impact that 60%-plus first-page results have on a dealer’s business. Out vastly improved search placement quickly led to huge increases in our site traffic and Internet-generated calls, and the ROI just keeps multiplying over time.

In 2009, SEO was directly responsible for:

* 48% of our unique website traffic
*44% of our 900-plus/monthly Internet-generated calls - trumping PPC, and OEM and 3^rd-party sites
*410 sales and service calls a month
* Plus, 90 website-submitted leads/month

SEO was the first piece of the search puzzle for our ‘digital dealership,’ and it remains our bedrock: the single biggest contributor to our web traffic and incoming calls ever since.

2) The Impact of Online Reputation Management:
* We’ve now generated over 1000 positive reviews across the Web, with an average 4.9 out of 5-star rating.
* Now driving 150-plus super-motivated calls/month from review sites/directories.

In 2008 we saw another consumer revolution gathering steam: the rise of customer reviews at sites/directories like Google, Yelp, CitySearch, Merchant Circle, Edmunds, DealerRater, etc.  My Internet Director, Merla Turner, really educated me on how 3 in 4 car shoppers turned to online dealer reviews, and 1 in 5 actually switched dealers based on what they read. By simply Googling our dealership’s name she showed my what huge traction the review sites have on first-page results, and how our customers were one click away from bad reviews that would cost me business.

There are two different ways auto consumers search: they either use brand searches without a dealer name, or they insert a dealer name into the phrase.  Generic searches (without a dealer name) are covered by advanced SEO - but the other searches, involving your name, are heavily trailed by review site results, and this is where Reputation Management becomes crucial. To cover our search bases, as dealers, we must tackle both.

We consulted with eXtéresAUTO, and together decided that we would once again be their ‘test dummy.’ So we launched a year-long beta test at Dick Hannah Honda to nail down the most successful customer review process. This trial-and error test took us hundreds of hours of manpower…but the processes we discovered now underpin eXtéresAUTO’s ‘Online Reputation Management’ solution, which has automated much of the laborious manual process I outline below.  The automation radically simplifies this super-difficult process for dealers.

Here are some core elements of our process:

Get Management Buy-In, Motivate Sales Team
Tackling our online reputation meant transforming the whole ‘mindset’ of the store: I knew I needed total management buy-in, and motivation for the sales team to actually make it a top priority.

* I replaced weekend and monthly spiffs (for cars sold) with a $25 reward for each review generated - with a firm goal of 4-5 online reviews per salesperson every month.
* Knowing staff recognition would be critical, we designed an email that circulated daily throughout our dealership, distributing all new reviews, along with graphs measuring each salesperson’s status: how many reviews they’d achieved and needed to acquire. The transparency and tangible incentives quickly reoriented my team around a common goal: get those satisfied customers typing online…
* We performed daily searches of the major review sites/directories. All reviews were printed, and placed in three folders: ‘Good,’ ‘Pretty Bad,’ and ‘Terrible.
*An attempt to call every unhappy customer was undertaken. When the customer was only identifiable by their online handle (i.e., Bob123), we searched our CRM tool to find email address matches.
* Every negative review was taken hyper-seriously: even if the customer made wild claims and demanded financial compensation, we did everything to make it right. And when we did, we asked that they edit their review explaining their satisfaction.
*Most sites let businesses respond directly, and we trained our team on tone and provided scripts. Our mantra: be honest, real, never defensive - and fix the problem.

Getting Customers Typing
The goal was to get the highest volume of satisfied customers posting, not only because they ‘push down’ bad reviews, but because, with their huge visibility at the Googles, they gave us the kind of exposure an ad could never buy: the recommendations of real-world customers…

We hit on a multi-pronged strategy:
* With any visibly pleased customer, staff simply asked them to share their experiences when they got home.
* Whenever a strong manufacturer survey came in, we called and/or emailed the customer, politely asking them for a review.
* When a happy customer responded to our ‘thank you for purchasing/servicing’ emails, we responded with an eXtéresAUTO-provided email template, including links to sites where they could easily post reviews.

Online Reputation Management Results:

The impact of this online reputation makeover on our bottom-line - along with its more subtle effects - has literally blown my mind. First, these 150-plus monthly calls I’m driving directly from the review sites represent the most motivated, highest-closing customers I’ve ever seen. Because we simply ‘own’ the state of Washington from a positive review perspective, people are driving 150 miles to do business with us, and asking for salespeople by name. We’re gaining market share, our CSI ratings are up, and we now rank at the top of the Internet Satisfaction Index.

The more subtle (but equally profound) impact: it’s utterly transformed the ‘personality’ of our store. Our sales team is obsessed with providing better service, our customers feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ about us, and our owners are proud. Dick Hannah Honda simply flies out at people searching online as the #1 consumer choice.

Impact of SEO and Online Reputation Management Combined:

This is where our website visitors and phone calls originated:(Note that SEO plus ORM drives 51% of our total unique website visits and 58% of our incoming calls.)

So, on average each month in 2009, Dick Hannah Honda generated well over 500 direct calls through the combined force of SEO and Online Reputation Management. For us, it’s now responsible for the lion’s share of our call AND web traffic, month in and month out.

The True Cost & ROI of SEO PLUS Online Reputation Management
I dissect (to death) what every marketing line-item costs me, and the true ROI. In general, first-party tactics (including SEO, PPC, website investments, and Online Reputation Management) significantly outperform third-party leads. For us, they deliver nearly 400% more leads/calls at less than a third of our monthly spend - and our closing rates on first-party leads are twice as high.

But SEO plus Online Reputation Management outperform any marketing tactic: generating more than half of our web traffic and Net-generated calls, at 7% of the Internet budget. Don’t get me wrong, we still use third-party providers, as they can deliver a relatively cost-effective stream of leads.  But with these new campaigns driving so much business, we’ve been able to really refine our third-party spend so they perform more cost-effectively.

Up Next…Social Media Campaigns in 2010
This year we’re putting the third piece of our puzzle together: getting our social media strategy right. Yes, we’ve been Twittering, on Facebook, and have a great, female-friendly auto blog called ‘Live, Love and Drive’ …but our management team has put their heads together, and hammered out a game-plan for what we want to achieve at the social media sites next.

Our philosophy: no direct ’selling’ on any social platform. Everything we do is about building strong community relationships and great content. From helpful and fun videos - to our new blog ‘Life in the ‘Couv,’ which dives into everything great going on in our town - to ongoing contests at Facebook/Twitter - to great content at our partner TV/radio sites. With core fans and followers, every twelfth communication is a very soft sell, i.e., pretty amazing discounts just for them, etc. And to really execute, we’ve hired a dedicated in-house professional to build out our social media campaigns and SEO-friendly content.

At Dick Hannah Honda we talk about our ‘digital dealership’ all day: how to drive more traffic to it, to sell more cars. Our approach: a bedrock in advanced SEO - and then adding powerful Online Reputation Management and pro-consumer social media campaigns. They represent the highest ROI and most cost-effective advertising we’ve ever done, period.

Joe Orr, General Manager of Dick Hannah Honda.

Automotive Veteran Brings Deep Experience in Online/Offline Marketing, Corporate Development and a Track Record of Strategic Growth Successes

Irvine, CA - February 2, 2010 - Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL), a leader in providing online consumer leads and marketing resources to the auto industry, today announced that Steve Lind has been named as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. Lind brings nearly 15 years of online and offline automotive experience, a rich collection of industry contacts and a proven track record of executive leadership honed at Nissan North America, LeadPoint, Stealing Home Media — and through nearly 10 previous years of service at Autobytel, where he led some of the company’s most successful and innovative strategic partnerships with automakers.

“We are very pleased to welcome Steve back to Autobytel. His highly impressive track record of leadership and corporate development speaks for itself,” said Autobytel CEO Jeffrey Coats.  “No one in the industry has a keener eye for identifying smart partnership opportunities or more pertinent experience with strategic innovation in the online automotive and lead generation space.  We are very pleased to add Steve’s unique vision - and his deep understanding of our dealer and OEM customer base - to our team.”

Lind first joined Autobytel in 1998, serving as manager, then director, of market representation, where he developed and instituted a model that dramatically changed the way dealer territories were priced and sold.  He rose through the organization to Senior Vice President of Strategic Accounts, securing Autobytel’s original relationships with AutoNation, FordDirect, General Motors, Asbury Auto Group, and many other OEMS along the way.  He also spearheaded a groundbreaking new-car online inventory pilot with General Motors, representing the company’s first sale of its technology services business. Lind ultimately took over sales and operating responsibilities for the company’s Retention Marketing Performance group, delivering positive dealer growth within two months, and sales responsibilities for the AIC division, securing new clients and successfully renegotiating the largest client’s contract.

“I am excited to rejoin Autobytel at a time when, I believe, the company is uniquely positioned to take the lead in the next game change in the online lead generation business,” said Lind.  “I look forward to helping advance Autobytel’s mission of continuing to innovate to help the industry meet not only its current economic challenges, but the tremendous opportunities on its horizon.”

Previously, Lind headed up LeadPoint’s automotive group and, most recently, he created Stealing Home Media, founded to help partners grow their businesses through building the right relationships and delivering marketing leading ideas. His successful work for multiple clients included M&A activity, business development work, market research and analysis, sales and organization development and online marketing plans.   A graduate of Miami University with an MBA from University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business, Lind’s automotive career started with Nissan North America.

About Autobytel

Autobytel Inc. (NASDAQ: ABTL), a leading automotive marketing services company, pioneered the automotive Internet when it launched autobytel.com in 1995. Since then, the company has helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers, and helped every major automaker market its brand online. Today, through its flagship website Autobytel.com®, its network of automotive sites including Autoweb.com®, AutoSite.com®, Car.com^sm, CarSmart.com®, CarTV.com®, and MyRide.com,® and its respected online partners, Autobytel continues its dedication to innovating the industry’s highest quality Internet programs to provide consumers with a comprehensive and positive automotive research and purchasing experience, and auto dealers, dealer groups and auto manufacturers with one of the industry’s most productive and cost-effective customer referral and marketing programs.

Contacts

Autobytel Inc. Media Relations
Crystal Hartwell
949.437.4755
CrystalH@autobytel.com

Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications
949.307.1723
melanie@mwebbcom.com

Autobytel Inc. Investor Relations
Crystal Hartwell
949.437.4755
crystalh@autobytel.com
PondelWilkinson Inc.
Roger Pondel/Laurie Berman
310.279.5980
investor@pondel.com

Inside the workshop we will cover:

• How the web has evolved into a social ecosystem and the power (and pitfalls) that come with it.
• We will discuss the business case for increasing traffic at your dealership while reducing your spend and lowering your ad costs PVR.
• We will outline the strategies and tactics your dealership should be using to drive and measure online business in both Variable and Fixed ops.

Each participant should expect to leave pumped up but most importantly with a higher level of understanding of advanced online marketing and the strategies necessary to lead your in your marketplace.

Those of you who know me know that I am a 3^rd generation dealer so everything I do translates back to the decision makers’ role in the dealership.   I present real world strategies that work and explain what doesn’t work and why.  My presentations are never tainted by an agenda with a product to sell  since I don’t sell anything to dealers.  When you come listen to me you get the RAW message as is meant for dealers.  My prior NADA workshops, 20 group presentations and other conference keynotes are very highly rated by the attendees.

Here is the schedule:

Friday, February 12 3:15 p.m. Room 308 C
Saturday, February 13 8:30 a.m. Room 203 A-C
Sunday, February 14 11:00 a.m. Room 308 C
Sunday, February 14 3:30 p.m. Room 309 A&B

I hope to see you there!  Ask any questions in the comments or email me at jared@drivingsales.com or ping me on twitter @drivingsales.  You can become a fan of our NADA workshop on Facebook here.

And who’s to blame for the lopsided ego-train? Yes, the factory is guilty: plain as day. More than not, they treat the dealer like a flea on the 800-pound gorilla. But so is the dealer base. For the last couple decades, the dealers have waited for the new models, created mediocre-at-best, self-indulgent print and radio ads, greeted fearful (or at least resentful) customers in less-than-desirable locations and then wondered why they have the (earned) reputations they do.

With exception to the leaders in the industry, dealers have not done much to truly brand and distinguish themselves. Don’t get ‘yer panties in a wad yet: We’re not saying that you don’t impact your communities, gainfully employ many or that you don’t feed tax revenue into your city’s coffers. What we are saying is that the dealer brands have not matched, let alone eclipsed, the nameplate and that is sad. Today would be one of those days if you happen to sell one of two import brands…and we all know that the domestics have had their days as well.

There has not been a better time ever to build a sustainable brand aside from what the factory does. And wouldn’t you want to do something different?!?!?! Have you paid attention to most car ads? Have you seen the POPs that are created for showrooms? You’re better off putting one of those 40-foot high lizards or cylindrical men with billowing arms on your roof! Actually, please don’t do that, 1986 called and they want their marketing back.

How does the dealer win today?  Start competing with the factory by becoming your own media. On the web it’s more achievable for less money than you’d ever imagine, if you do it right. You might even start working with your customers and actually source, communicate and retain them successfully. There are some OEMs that actually want to take over your CRM and relationships but it’s not because they can do it any better than the dealer can. Truth is it’s not happening correctly at retail. This evening I was talking to a successful local dealer group that has one of their import stores source nearly every walk-up the same way in their CRM: simply click the first drop down choice. CRAP!

The foundation for winning is simple, it’s just not easy: unbreakable processes, management from the top down, complete comprehension of systems and support and a die-hard commitment to the customer. If we don’t do that, it’s all for naught.

These are still very trying times in automotive (special mention to the banks!). Maybe we can all start by simply trying to keep ourselves from making it any harder. Start internally. Then make sure your ‘home’ is in great shape. Then concentrate on the customers. Then, alas, take care of the factory.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Knowing how to navigate social media is similar to navigating your neighborhood streets. Just as you wouldn’t slam on the gas between two stop signs a hundred yards apart, you should be conscientious of the acceptable behaviors and expectations of participating in social media. Here are 8 simple rules for engagement in social media.

1. Social media is meant to be FUN! Inject some personality into your postings, be friendly and be entertaining. But remember to keep it clean!

2. Don’t push…Pull. Ask questions….don’t sell. Especially not right off the bat. Listen and learn from your audience. Build a rapport. Eventually you should be able squeeze some sales messages in without backlash. Promote your dealership in a non-intrusive way.

3. Be authentic. Be you. Be honest about who you are and what your intentions are.

4. Give up control! Let your followers and fans speak and share their experiences. Don’t restrict who can and can’t leave comments. When someone does share, be sure to respect his or her opinions.

5. Be realistic. Don’t expect immediate results. You can spend a half an hour a day on social media but understand that it will likely yield a very unsuccessful result. The more time and effort your dealership is able to dedicate, the better the engagement. Additionally, social media is aimed at building deep, meaningful relationships. And we all know that those don’t happen overnight. It’s been said that social media will never close a deal, but it can certainly create a buzz about your product. The deal must be closed once the prospect enters your dealership.

6. Address any concerns or negative feedback immediately. “When you respond quickly to a customer concern or complaint it lets the customer know what to expect when they do business with you,” according to Lori Vajda Social Media Coordinator for AutoNation. Not only is the timeliness of response important, but also the manner in which you respond. If someone posts a comment on Twitter, respond on Twitter. This ensures that the same people who saw the initial comment will also see your response.

7. Frequently update your profile with meaningful, relevant and timely information. A stagnant profile will scare off customers and prospects alike quicker than a salesperson in a vintage polyester suit.

8. Measure. Just as with other marketing efforts, don’t forget to track your progress. This can be done easily by tracking the number of fans you obtain, the number of Twitter followers, the number of times a tweet is retweeted, the number of blog subscribers or the number of video views. This information can usually be easily obtained. You can also use Google Analytics, a free tool used to track website and blog traffic (provided you don’t have something similar in place and/or you have someone who can set it up for you).

Though we’ve outlined the etiquette of social media above, if you need to remember just one rule-of-thumb in social media it’s that you should be yourself.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive.

Bio:

Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com

LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/missyjensen

Original blog post is located at http://automotivedirectmarketing.blogspot.com/2010/02/8-simple-rules-for-navigating-social.html

Here’s my list of the technologies with incredible potential for creating new solutions for automotive consumers and professionals in 2010.

1. Real time Search: Google and Bing are squaring off in the first round of real time search results by providing real time results from the likes of Twitter and Facebook. While we don’t see these results in the same format as regular search results now, this will move from being a silo to being a primary search result visual. Search Engines such as Topsy will help the competition ramp up improved methods of displaying real time results from relevant and influential sources; other players in this space: Collecta and OneRiot.
2. Geolocation Services: It will become increasingly easy to engage with prospects and customers with the advent of GPS style functions within mobile phones, social channels and smart phone apps which harness geolocation capabilities. Geolocation API’s will increase the ability to communicate with consumers; your own creativity is the limitation. For example, Whrrl’s Merchant Program is a simple way to extend your online footprint and offer an incentive for consumers to visit & engage them with new discount/promotional ideas.
3. Mobile Video: Video has become a standard for the automotive segment within websites - mobile video will be a new frontier. Smart phone video usage will continue to explode as it becomes easier to stream from your phone - and to users phones. Network expansion from 3G to 4G and Google’s entry into the spectrum will open up new creative possibilities. The first step was gaining mobile acceptance and basic usage. Nine million users accessed their Facebook account via their mobile phone in 2008; that number exploded to 88 million in 2009. Huge opportunity for mobile video in 2010.
4. HTML5: The newest version of HTML will host a suite of user features and benefits that improve online experiences. Rich applications (video & animation) will be easier to integrate as Flash and Silverlight won’t be as heavily relied upon. The goal is to create simple user experiences which function like a desktop application and also allows next-gen features such as offline data support and drag and drop capabilities. Hopefully more automotive web developers will recognize the opportunity this presents to provide dealers and their visitors more memorable and effective experiences.
5. Social Centralization: This is my term for the direction of car dealer social networks and the value added services they will provide automotive professionals. Dealer network sites will evolve into centralized destinations that provide more than blog posts and discussions. As user acceptance and awareness increases, greater value will be driven by segment specific research, access to video libraries and vendor ratings. I see the culmination being the eventual cross-pollination of content and resources from major industry brands into their own specific communities. I also see the user gaining greater access to this content, whether they act as a contributor or a reader, via simpler access points such as smart phone apps.
6. Social CRM: The entire CRM segment will be shaken up in 2010. Old systems dealers have been subjected will be turned upside down with the advent of more web based systems. The biggest changes could also come from the integration of the social channels to these systems to help improve and monitor customer communications. Major CRM solutions have already made this leap; I’m confident these solutions will make their way into the newest CRM tools being rolled out. I wouldn’t be shocked if an open source DMS-CRM solution sprouted up. Salesforce.com is adding a new data tool to their offering called Chatter. Other companies such as Yammer have rolled out creative solutions which mesh internal and external communication efforts.

We’re experiencing another round of significant changes in the automotive markets. Improvements in the retail process, customer service and online user experience will continue to move at break neck speeds in 2010 and aren’t limited to the above list; they’re certainly not limited to simply technological solutions - these are simply tools to help make the improvements easier to achieve. The biggest change will undoubtedly come from how the professionals in our market react to the needs of the automotive consumer and work towards creating a better overall customer experiece.

The automotive retail change movement has already begun, how will you become a part of the solution?

One of the fundamental problems on our sales floors is that it is just too easy to get a job.  Candidates walk in, fill out an application, prove that they have a pulse during an interview, and are hired on the spot.  This has to change.  This builds no value in our dealerships, our profession, or our industry.  We must require applicants to earn a position rather than just getting it.

As a trainer, dealers always ask me “What is the magic bullet out there?  What will help me sell more cars?”  They are likely looking for a solution/tool/CRM/website/campaign, but the true magic bullet is a great employee.  One forward-thinking person (especially in your Internet Department) can yield endless profitability.  You are the magic bullet.  The people around you are the magic bullets. Your growth will be determined by the people that work for you, with you, above you, and beside you.

We develop intricate processes to bring a prospect from lead to appointment to sale throughout our showrooms, but we rarely have a process to recruit, interview, hire and train the employees of our stores.  I was able to achieve success while in the retail side of the automotive business, but I know I wouldn’t have been near as successful if it hadn’t been for the people I surrounded myself with during my time at my former dealership.  It is only because of the work I put into preparing them for success and the work they, in turn, achieved, have I been able to parlay my career as an automotive internet expert into starting my own consulting business.  Selling cars, not on the floor, but online, is a TEAM environment.  It is high time we begin focusing on acquiring a solid team.

One question I’m often asked is ‘Who should run my Internet Department/BDC’.  There are only three choices, each with a different monetary tag attached.  You can hire the best (otherwise known as ’stealing an expert’).  You can promote from within.  Or you can hire a newbie and train (i.e. start from scratch).  Know that you’ll pay top dollar to hire the best, but this will yield you the fastest turnaround and gross.  If you decide to promote from within, you will likely be paying a fair industry price for their services.  Lastly, you will save considerable money (rough book value) by hiring someone new to the position, but won’t see considerable growth or a return on the investment for some time.

Before you begin recruiting or interviewing for the position, you must do three things.

1. Determine the hierarchy of the store.  Who will this person, in a new department, be reporting to?  Often anyone from sales managers to salespeople believe they can delegate work to someone in the internet department while the top stores usually have this a director or GM as the only entity that presides over the Internet team.  Decide who is in charge of what and this will help you understand the type of candidate you need to hire.
2. Develop a pay plan based upon your goals for the Internet department/BDC and reward these specific metrics.  The structure of this position (A-Z, appointment setter, Director) will help determine the pay plan.
3. Create a written, detailed job description specifying all duties, expectations, hierarchies, necessary skills, and intended earning potential.

Many dealers ask me where they can even find quality candidates.  Above and beyond the normal classified sections, here are some outside-the-box places that I’ve had success finding strong personnel for my former BDC.

Selection

1. College graduates.  I’ve had much success hiring recent college graduates.  Those individuals with the fortitude to sit in classrooms, research, and complete assignments, day in and day out, just seem to take to the environment and position of Internet Sales Coordinator/Manager very well.  There is a knowledge level and drive there that cannot be overlooked.
2. Promote from Within.  Looking internally has given me some great Customer Contact Reps (BDC personnel) as they understand the product, have good phone skills, and, even better, know the staff well enough to understand what prospects would work well with whom.
3. Vendor Referrals.  Those Cars.com and AutoTrader reps stopping by your store know who the real talent is at your competitors’ stores.  Often, people pass the word that they are open for a change through these reps so approach them and see if there is someone who may be a good fit.  After all, no vendor will refer in a fool because that person would only make their life harder in your store as well.
4. Local Competition.  Many great Internet Directors have a strong #2 at their store.  This is someone that they know deserves a shot at running their own department, but can’t give them that opportunity because they won’t obviously give up their own jobs.  If you have a good relationship with another ID, consider calling up and asking if they have a second in command that they’d be willing to recommend.  If not, just steal them.  Also in this category, don’t overlook recruiters.  They have access to many great candidates.

Regarding who you select, please do not overlook women.  If it is proven that 85% of all decisions are influenced by women and 65% of ever vehicle purchase is determined by a woman, why do women only make up 7% of our sales and service staff?  Correct this discrepancy by finding strong female applicants.

Once you’ve acquired all of the resumes/applications, review them, ensuring they have the necessary background/skills, and then research them on the social networking pages.  Make sure their LinkedIn information correlates to what is on their resume.  Check the other sites to gain insight into their character.  Try to learn about them through the social media landscape.  Then, screen them by phone.

Interviewing/Hiring

A good phone screening should be no longer than 5 minutes.  You detail thejob requirements and their work history, uncover any gaps/short terms in their employment, mention the drug/background check (to scare off anyone with bad habits hoping to sneak by), and inform them of the interview process.  I won’t delve into the art of interviewing (and it is an art), but make sure you provide your sales management team with all of the training necessary to properly interview.  Most managers were awarded their positions from being strong on the sales floor.  In many cases, a sales manager hasn’t been in an interview themselves for 6 or more years.  They need to understand the how and why of closed ended vs. open ended questions, what to ask, and when to ask them.  Know that interviewing is a PROCESS.  It should be performed by several managers over several days.  (No one should be hired on day one).  It should involve several steps the applicant must complete and should also involve outside-the-box interview tactics like mystery shopping and role-playing.  Trust me, if every manager role-played a negotiation with the new candidate (the candidate being the salesperson and manager as the customer), not many people would be hired…or consequently later fired.  I could make interviewing for auto dealers a ten-page article alone so I will let you do your own research here - or simply contact someone who can help in this regard.

Orientation

The orientation is incredibly important to the success of any new hire.  Bad orientation causes a type of “buyer’s remorse” and increases turnover.

No new hire should begin handling internet leads or calls on day one.  This happens all too often.  On the same note, don’t give a new hire “the grand tour” and expect them to remember names, paperwork, logins/etc.  Much like for Recruiting and Interviewing, there is also a process for a proper orientation.

Require that your vendor trains the new recruit on all solutions - front to back.  No exceptions or find another vendor.  It is fine for the director of the department to give guidance/hints/tips, but the training must come from the vendor.

Create teams where every single department in the dealership has one primary communicator.  This way, the new hire learns about the overall dealership’s structure and has only one individual that they are to speak to.  Allow them to spend a little time in the different departments to get a lay of the land and understand the importance of the entire rather than the role of its parts.  Once product knowledge training, process training, solution training, and paperwork review are complete, you should then test them through a mystery shop on the system.  Make sure they are employing all of the templates/word tracks/practices that you’re expecting of them before they get the green light to handle customers.  They must earn your seal of approval before they officially step into the duties.  This first two weeks of orientation should be salaried in my opinion.  This way they will be in a good place financially - and not starting from scratch - when they do assume the reins of their job.  Just ensure they are ready to tackle the position before giving them the task of performing the actions.

Too many new hires are dropped onto the sales floor or into the internet department with little more than “advice” from someone they’ve been insanely asked to “shadow”.  Do more for them than these old-school practices.  These negative impressions lead to mistrust.  If you’ve put them through a process to join your team, don’t drop the ball now by leaving them will little guidance on how to conduct themselves.

Celebrate your new employees.  Have a manager take them out to lunch the first week.  Send a gift basket to their home welcoming their family into yours.  Make sure they understand the “language” of cars sales.  (We all have those code words that we share for different aspects of the deal.  Familiarize them.)  Let the new hire know the importance of paperwork and how very crucial their role is to the organization.  Show them what type of future they can have at the dealership.  Most importantly, ask for questions.  Let them know that there is never anything they should be afraid to ask of you.  As I said, this is a TEAM environment.

And don’t forget to provide them long-term, on-going training and evaluations.  This will always keep them focused and prepared for the goals you’d like them achieve.

Finding the perfect fit for your Internet department is one of the most difficult jobs an owner/GM has, yet it can single-handedly be one of the most profitable for them if performed correctly.  There are three things that develop people:  the training, the job environment, and their willingness to learn.  You can only control two of these three which is why you must not just support the staff, but measure their results.

Provided you’ve created the proper processes when recruiting, interviewing, and training, you will be able to sit back and see the success of your efforts.  You won’t need to pull any tricks out of your sleeves.  The magic will happen.

The End is Where it Starts

The easiest way to identify trends in what consumers are looking for in your market area is with a well planned dealership blog.  A great way to dominate your local market area online is through an aggressive micro site strategy.  Its fool proof that a well optimized social media presence will deliver consumers to the showroom and service lane.  When the three are working together it is an army of 800lb marketing gorillas.

Set a mission goal.  This is the most critical step.  Determine your objectives before determining what assets you are going to deploy.  For some dealers it may be just to protect their online reputation, the easiest effort, it could be to draw traffic on their competitors’ names to their website, an advanced marketing strategy you have to be very careful with, others raise the awareness of the products they represent in their local market or to pull traffic from outside of their primary marketing area to increase their online saturation.

Deploy Assets

Setting up assets is the heavy lifting.  The real planning starts, this is where you build your blog, launch micro sites or get everybody in the store involved in social media.  You can do all three at once.

To manage your online reputation is could be as simple as deploying a dealership blog and a specials micro site and setting responsibilities for a publishing schedule and updates to the asset.

You can’t track what you do not measure

A blog will help you identify trends in what consumers are looking for in your marketing area with properly installed measurement tools, such as Google Analytics.  A micro site that is getting national traffic may not be in your best interest if your process cannot convert that traffic.  Make sure every click and every call is measured and properly sourced.

Capitalize on Trends

If your analytics show that consumers are looking for F150 Bedliners Houston then you have an opportunity to create content to show them that your dealership is the only place in Huston to buy bedliners from by deploying inner pages on your dealership website, a fresh micro site or a blog page showing you mean business as far as bedliners go.

Managing it All

A blog that has not been updated in two months is a waste of bandwidth and expectations.   Great content about how to set a clock on a 1995 Dodge Durango with a well optimized video on how to do it could drive leads via your online appraisal form.

Using these mediums requires hands on management so you don’t miss opportunities you would not otherwise have.  Set it and forget it is no longer a valid online marketing strategy. Once the expectations are set, trends are identified and deployment is streamlined the puzzle comes together and you have bred 800lb gorilla that your competition will never conquer.

About the Author-

Paul Rushing is the owner of SEGA Systems, LLC with over two decades of high ticket retail experience.  He can be reached at 912-266-1629, paul@segasystems.com, or www.dealerbytes.com.